Lakers baseball drops regional game to Southern Indiana

Saturday

May 17, 2014 at 10:48 PMMay 17, 2014 at 10:48 PM

Special to The Sentinel

The No. 22-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team had its 15-game winning streak broken on Saturday night, dropping a 5-2 game to Southern Indiana in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament. It was the Lakersí first loss of the tournament, moving them in to the loserís bracket and needing to win two games on Sunday to win the regional title.The loss drops the Lakers to 39-12 overall on the season, while Southern Indiana moves to 44-12 and in to the championship game on Sunday afternoon. GVSU will take on Drury at 1 p.m. in an elimination game. If the Lakers were to win that elimination game, they would get a rematch with Southern Indiana at 5 p.m. in the title game.Host Southern Indiana picked up the first run of the game in the top of the first, turning the tables on what has usually been a GVSU trend this season. The Screaming Eagles got a lead-off hit by pitch and a single to put two on, with both runners moving in to scoring position on a sacrifice bunt for the first out. USI got a run in on an RBI groundout to take a 1-0 lead then loaded the bases with two out, but the Lakers were able to escape with only the one run deficit.GVSU returned the favor of loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first, getting three straight two-out singles, but an infield pop-up ended the rally as USI held on to the 1-0 lead.The Lakers evened the score up in the bottom of the second, as the USI pitcher was called for a balk with runners on the corners, scoring Stuart Eisler and pushing Eric Hess to second, who both singled earlier in the inning.GVSU kept the rally going as Jamie Potts drove a sacrifice fly in to right-center field to score Hess and make it a 2-1 Laker lead after Hess was moved to third on a Mike Nadratowski single.The score was drawn even again in the top of the third as Southern Indiana put runners on the corners with one out and hit an RBI groundout to short for the second time in the contest, tying the game up at 2-2.USI took a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth with help from four Laker errors, and GVSU would not threaten late in the game, as the Screaming Eagles took the victory, 5-2.Nadratowski and Aaron Overbeck each went 2-for-4, while Eisler and Hess were each 1-for-4 with a run scored. Potts drove in the only RBI of the contest.Starter Sean Clancy (8-1) took his first loss of the season, despite throwing a complete game, allowing only five hits and three earned runs with four strikeouts.